STAR WARS: TIE in the SkySalieriAAX
A novice Imperial TIE Fighter pilot receives career support from an unlikely benefactor. Learn to fly the feeblest craft in the Imperial fleet and sock it to the Rebels.
http://shawnandtom.com/LBP/TIE_in_the_Sky/tis01s.jpg

Well, this is my second (proper) level, and it has been a slightly tougher project than Colossal Calamity. Set in the Star Wars universe, you play an Imperial TIE pilot on board Super Star Destroyer Executor facing flying challenges of increasing difficulty. It's not a very long level, and you won't encounter much in the way of interesting platforming challenges or puzzles, but plenty of character interaction and fairly detailed Star Wars-themed environments.

I've posted this as a F4F thread but I might not have a chance in the next couple of days to give feedback for levels I haven't downloaded yet as I'm going somewhere where I don't know if I'll have wireless.

I would like to offer huge thanks to Taffey, who not only provided me with some fantastic inspiration for Imperial interiors in A New Hop, but who also playtested the level several times for me and provided me with some absolutely invaluable feedback. Thanks Taff!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the level and if anyone could give me some help regarding getting some screenshots I would be enormously grateful.

EDIT - I've just reuploaded the level with an improved TIE Fighter, improved blaster fire, and some bug fixes:

TIE Fighter: All TIE's now perform much better. They are harder to tip over and don't fal out of the sky as badly if you do. Catching a wing on the Executor hull no longer unbalances you as badly, and overall the ship feels lighter and more stable. Note: There is a very slight difference in the handling of the TIE in the tutorial section and the space flight sections. This is because part of my improvements made the entire wing section grabbable, which meant that the self-righting mechanism could be operated from grabbing the bottom of the wing as well as the top, and doing so made the tutorial section a bit less slick and dynamic (losing the jumping down of the top section). Because of that, the tutorial TIE isn't quite as improved as the other ones, but there isn't really enough room in that section for this to be noticeable.

Blaster Fire: The blaster fire will now kill sackboy if it hits him. There's also a little bit of extra plot regarding the blasters that makes the battle a tiny bit more dynamic (not much, don't get excited.)

But there is one thing that i dont like that much. Unfortunatly the TIE Fighter can only fly sideways from ship to ship. But i think you cant do much about that anyway.
If i want to be nit-picky i could say that the way back out of the hangar of the rebel ship is much walking but thats just a small thing.

Really nice level: 5 Stars and a heart!

PaddyJ

02-23-2010, 01:13 PM

Amazing visuals but the ship needs work, it's too heavy so it keeps tilting if you hit a corner(maybe make the inside smaller so this happens less) and if you let go of the analogue stick(but still hold R) it just falls. Hide some peach floaty in there behind the front thin layers(if there's some already in, add more/change some of the thin layers to floaty so it's less heavy and easier to control). Great gameplay though

amazingflyingpoo

02-23-2010, 02:07 PM

Well, you already know that I am a huge fan of yours because I loved Colossal Calamity so much, so I was very excited to give this level a try, and you did not disappoint! There were so many things that stood out about this level.

First of all, the humor was excellent. You had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions with the things that Vader said. That was some incredible dialog :) I really didn't want the level to end just so I could see what you came up with next!

Secondly, the level looked outstanding. The materials we have really played to your strength on this one. Everything about the level looked just perfect. Also, your character models were amazing. Everything down to Vader's flowing cape was just fantastic!!!

Lastly, the gameplay was great. Sure, it was pretty low on the platforming, but I didn't mind one bit. The level was just plain fun! I see that some people are complaining about the ship's balance, but I think it is nothing to worry about. If you had me fly through obstacles with the ship I would have been frustrated, but I was only asked to fly in a straight line, so it wasn't bad at all. I did die once because of loosing control, but it only took me about 30 seconds to get in a ship and get back where I was. Personally, I liked the challenge of flying it :D

Great work! I hope you keep up this trend of incredible levels :D 5 stars and hearted!

PaddyJ

02-23-2010, 02:18 PM

Do you have any thermo left(probly not judging by visuals) ? Maybe increase the space between the ships(hangers?) and add some obstacles(lasers etc.) to spice things up? The levels still great even without those things. Maybe save it for a sequel ;D

Powershifter

02-23-2010, 02:53 PM

If i had a PSP I'd be there straight away....!

me too :)

I've posted this as a F4F thread but I might not have a chance in the next couple of days to give feedback for levels I haven't downloaded yet as I'm going somewhere where I don't know if I'll have wireless.

...do you really have to download levels that you want to play?

Fastbro

02-23-2010, 05:13 PM

Wowsers! Another amazing level from you! :star::star::star::star::star: and heart.

jeffcu28

02-23-2010, 10:58 PM

Hey salieri,

Well, it seems Taffey predicted right: I now officially hate you more than you hate me! :p

I'm really glad that you finally published a "full" level. I always tried to imagine what a wholesome experience from you would be like, and now with this, I know: Terrific In Every Way!;)

First of all, your doors are sick. I've seen some mighty intricate doors on the PS3 side, but for the PSP, I thought that was an ingenious way to make something simple look really complicated. Your characters have by far some of the most well-developed personalities and design. I'm horrible with stickers, and you're one of those designers who make me pop out my sticker tool to figure out exactly how you achieved such a convincing look. I also really liked the character proportions. Most levels feature relatively large ones, but these were tiny and adorable with their Sackperson treatment. This similarity in size between the actual sackperson and your characters really made the story that much more engaging. And on top of that, they were really funny in a cartoony/comic book type of way. I really enjoyed the levitating chair section, and especially the part when you walk in on Vader! Hehe. Awesome stuff.

Okay, now the TIE Fighter :D. I loved the idea, and I thought the learning curve was just right thanks to the well-implemented training sessions. My only concern was that it felt rather "heavy" and not floaty enough for me personally. Keeping it upright was a bit tricky for me sometimes too, and when it tips over, you plummet to the ground quite quickly and it loses that anti-gravity sort-of effect. In terms of construction though, this is another major technical feat, and I'm sure most players will oversee those minor issues and focus more on the amazing gameplay.

For a full level with ingenious and well-made vehicles, this deserves 5:star:s and a heart, and then some! Hehe. As for F4F, you don't have to review any of my levels as you already did...

Grabbing on to my chair,
jeffcu28

Taffey

02-24-2010, 05:15 AM

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the level and if anyone could give me some help regarding getting some screenshots I would be enormously grateful.Hmm? Someone say screenshots?

These aren't true screen captures so the quality isn't 100%, but hopefully they should do for now. Each smaller picture links to a larger version, and I've included the raw BB code below in case you want to copy and paste it into your post. Enjoy. :)

I have to say this was a complete blast to play the tie fighter was amazing how it was actually able to fly. Now I did have some issues with the tie with it not going up enough or once spinning out of control but overall I had a blast. I loved your designs and the way darth vader looked. I gave it :star::star::star::star::star: and a heart I am shocked how you are able to create these things. Also I would love some feedback from you on Target 1.1( since this is f4f)

Domik12

02-24-2010, 02:57 PM

Hi, salieri! I have no words to describe my feelings after your level... maybe just WOOOOOOOW!!!! All part of level are great. You did fantastic job with corner tool and stickers. Design of level and character are excellent. I already spend about 2 hours on trying to to things, such as you did in you level. I learn many things about using corner tool and stickers from your work! Thank you for it. And my great respect for you as level creator. You are genius! My 5 :star: and heart for level! And yopu already have my heart as creator.

And thanks for post "How To Make Walking Objects And Vehicles" - I already finished it translate into Russian and soon publish it on our LittleBigRussia community site! Looking for you next levels!

SalieriAAX

02-24-2010, 04:04 PM

Thanks so much for all of your feedback folks. I totally understand what you're saying about the flying. I was convinced there wasn't any more I could do to get it to handle any better, however, I've just made a few adjustments that I think make it much better. It's still possible to fly out of control if you change direction quickly several times in a row, but it's definitely better. I need to reuplaod anyway because I discovered yesterday that when I changed the blaster fire (one of the last things I did) I hadn't made the gas part thick enough - as a result it's actually harmless. I can't get on wifi today but I will get a new version uploaded tomorrow.

Taffey - thanks for the screenshots, they actually make the level look pretty awesome.

Re F4Fers - as I said I can't get on wifi today, but will check out your levels as soon as I can.

I would like to mention the sense of depth in some of the rooms, it felt like there were as many layers as in the PS3 version. Clever use of shapes, colours & materials.

Flying the TIE gets some time to get used to, but you offer a tutorial, the TIE respawns if you die, and despite it's difficult riding it, you can feel it WORKS (ie, it's not broken like other vehicles in too many levels), so it's not a big problem.

Morgana25

02-25-2010, 05:28 AM

Nice level - made me laugh a lot! Who knew it was so hard to be a bad guy. Thought the humor was great and character designs were cool. Nice detail work on the ships, lifts and corridors too. Felt like a big level on a small screen. Thanks for the cool experience :)

Domik12

02-25-2010, 07:03 AM

HI, salieri! Yesterday during one of the walking through your level in some N time for carefully look and understand all details and mechanics, I discovered one bug - in Rebellion hangar, when you must destroy three X-wings, you can do such thing: player can jump on second X-wing (see picture)
http://my-lbp.narod.ru/LBP/central/SW/p1.jpg
and if you will not destroy it, but go on it wing toward it's end, X-wing ship will disappear without detonation animation. In this case, after you destruction two other X-wings on the right way with detonation animation , there is no speech pops about "that was the last one and I can go back to Empire ship" and, if you will return to Empire ship, there is no score board and player will have no opportunity to finish level.

I think that it not very big bug, but it has place. So - if you will fixed it - it will be good, but imho, it not necessary. Anyway you level now is one of brilliant levels on psp. Thanks you again for you work! Your work with layers and perspective is fantastic! Level looked as PS3 version.

And one more - if player will not be in a hurry just before finish, he can look at such picture:
http://my-lbp.narod.ru/LBP/central/SW/p2.jpg
What is it? O, NO!!! There is two Vaders!!! Rebellion now completely doomed. :)

SalieriAAX

02-25-2010, 09:53 AM

Thanks a lot Domik, you caught me just in time before my reupload, whivch is now done. See original post for more details.

jeffcu28

02-25-2010, 11:40 PM

Hey salieri,

Replayed your level! The TIE Fighter definitely feels lighter and has more stability than the previous model. You did a fantastic job with the revision. Here's another 5:star:s and a heart from me.

Keep up the good work,
jeffcu28

Taffey

02-26-2010, 04:23 AM

I gave this another play as well, and you've done a great job tuning up the TIE fighter flight. It's even more intuitive now and much more fun. Good job on the rest of the more subtle changes as well. I also forgot to add earlier that I really like the new siren sound you picked. Fits right in without being too obtrusive.

In fact, this revised version is so fun I often ask myself what I'm doing still here - I should be playing your level instead! :p (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Needless to say, 5 more stars and another heart!

CyberSora

02-28-2010, 11:58 PM

Right, my F4F promise. Now loading... ;)

Okay, so I'm loving your spaceship vibe, and ooh, outer space scenery! Nice! Now Darth wants me to take a test, alright. So far, I'm seeing no flaws here. Now the test, to pick up the TIE. Oh, it's a bit hard. And... done. Now I'm heading towards the next test, which is... simple. Not challenging as I expected for a test to be.

Okay, I'm asked to go into a elevator, and no problems. Love the magic sound to it. And... ah, Darth is hideous! Nice humor salieri. Okay, going back to the corridor. Dang! I hit the arrow, sending me back to the bottom of the elevator. Oh well...

Off into battle, not hard to steer, so bonus points to you. Now the sabotage. Not hard really. I'm loving the explosions, but I think you could have added a time bomb or something, just to make it more... difficult, or something. I don't know, it's your level.

Okay, it's over, and nice intro Darth! If only you could take pictures in LBP PSP, because tha was a photo finish! :D

So, my pros and cons results:

Pros: Fun gameplay, and great atmosphere. Also your Corner Editing skills are amazing!
Cons: That arrow I mentioned was a bit annoying. Still, no flaws besides that.

Overall, I gave it :star::star::star::star::star:'s and a ♥ for the level and a ♥ for you as a creator. :)

Peace

theswweet

03-01-2010, 01:02 AM

it was awesome...nuff said.

can you try my color me crazy?

jeffcu28

03-07-2010, 07:09 AM

MOVED:

Hey salieri,

Congratulations on yet another mechanical masterpiece on Spotlighted levels! I was really excited that you managed to frame your exquisite vehicle designs with a story full of funny characters on a full-length feature film! Great job ;)!

There's a fine line between ostentatious and real talent,
jeffcu28

Fastbro

03-07-2010, 03:07 PM

Congrats on the spotlight salieri! A very deserving level!

SalieriAAX

03-07-2010, 06:15 PM

Thanks guys, really pleased with being spotlighted again! I feel now I've set a horrible precedent that I won't be able to keep up.

PS: There seem to be quite a few sour grapes among the PS3 lot, which made me realise for the first time what a general atmosphere of mutual encouragement and respect we have in the PSP section of the forum. I mean, this is a WEBFORUM guys! How come we don't all hate each other already (except for jeffcu28, I bloody hate that guy :p)

jeffcu28

03-07-2010, 07:28 PM

(except for jeffcu28, I bloody hate that guy :p)

:D The feeling's mutual salieri, the feeling's mutual...

Waving fist in the air,
jeffcu28

VelcroJonze

03-08-2010, 12:51 AM

Congratulations on the spotlight Salieri!

Downloading this now....

Taffey

03-08-2010, 04:46 AM

Congrats salieri!

I feel now I've set a horrible precedent that I won't be able to keep up.Ah! Well now I know for sure that you're on the right path. Welcome to the club! ;)

VelcroJonze

03-08-2010, 07:54 PM

Once again congratulations on the spotlight!! This is a great level. :)

The first thing that caught my eye was how the docking bay looked. The depth of field looked amazing, with the way you layered materials it almost seemed 3-D, the squad leaving in the tiefighters looked like they actually going into space. Well done. Your doors looked great too. You totally got the starwars look perfected. Your dialogue was clever. The Moff, Tie = Terrific In Everyway, finding Vader in his uncompromising situation and the way he freaked, heheh. Nice touch with the bubbles on the ceiling too. I always have to go get those things. Now to the technical..... amazing, the tiefighter handled wonderful, I didn't play this before you updated, but what ever you did was spot on. I was flying that thing like a seasoned stormtrooper in no time. The mission was very fun, flying to the rebel base and blowing things up while Arto and Threepio watched and before I left I went over to see if there was more of your dialogue and what do you know.... Bubbles!! Nice. The droids looked great, as a matter of fact all the characters looked wonderful. Overall a great level. I feel so lucky, I have been waiting for some good Star Wars levels and the last couple weeks we have levels from you and Taffey.

Five stars and another heart for another one of your levels.:cool:

SalieriAAX

03-09-2010, 08:59 AM

Thanks a lot VelcroJonze,

I especially appreciate the comments about the characters. I've realised creating characters is possibly even better than making vehicles - they don't break themselves spontaneously part-way through creating a level when you thought you had them perfect.

Just to let everyone know, I've used the term 'spotlighted' in the new thread title and in my signature to follow the convention, and I know it's perfectly acceptable, but privately I really do prefer 'spotlit'.

amazingflyingpoo

03-09-2010, 09:13 AM

PS: There seem to be quite a few sour grapes among the PS3 lot, which made me realise for the first time what a general atmosphere of mutual encouragement and respect we have in the PSP section of the forum. I mean, this is a WEBFORUM guys! How come we don't all hate each other already (except for jeffcu28, I bloody hate that guy :p)

Yeah, I was noticing this. I have always felt that the PSP side of this site was just plain amazing. Not that I was against LBPC's PS3 side, but I just never felt like I fit in. However, when I began checking out the PSP side, I was immediately hooked, and there really hasn't been a single instance that has made me want to leave :)

I have two additional side comments:

1) I just saw that your level made it to page 1!!!!! Congratulations :)

2) [This one is much more important] I have always thought that clans in LBP were one of the silliest things in the world... however... I see that your sackboy avatar has the snake puppet on his hand, and so does mine, so I feel that we are sort or required to form an unofficial "Snake Sock Puppet Clan" :-P

Page 1 of what, by the way? I have a feeling this should please me but I don't really know what you mean.

amazingflyingpoo

03-09-2010, 09:28 AM

LOL @ page 1 of what....

Your on Page 1 of Highest Rated :) Your level is one of the highest rated levels on all of LBP!!!

I laughed because I remember back on PS3 when I made my first level that did well, and someone told me I was on Page 1, and I had no idea what they were talking about, and I sent them a message saying "I have no idea what is going on!!!!! My level is suddenly being played by people but I don't know why?????" :-)

SalieriAAX

03-09-2010, 09:49 AM

ACE! That's brilliant. I actually got a bit of a hike in plays after the spotlight was published, so I guess people must read that...

Thanks for pointing that out for me Poo, I think the saying goes "I'm well chuffed".

HA! Not any more, I just got relegated by none other than R.I.P. Sack! (shakes fist)

trianglepigsquar

03-09-2010, 03:54 PM

Love the level! I was very suprised when vader did'nt slice me in half when I was late-I nearly ran. Great sticker work(how do you create such detail). Tie fighter was great, I did'nt understand the first tutorial at first but I got there in the end. I would love to see more advanced flying(mabie more obsticles?) Great the way the Tie was'nt on a fixed track like other similar things. How do you make the scoreboard look like that? 5 stars and a heart!

spok22

03-10-2010, 05:56 AM

I am a pretty big star wars fan in general and i must say i absolutely loved this level. I loved how you made the tie fighters and i really liked the backgrounds. I can tell you put a lot of work into this level and it really showed time and time again.Although i found little to no flaws in this level, i still have a couple suggestions on how you might make your level better. I would complain about your tie fighters being difficult to control but i dont really see any way in which anybody can fix this so i am not worried about that and you shouldnt be either. MY first suggestion is that you make the final course more of a lengthy trial becasue i think that it was over way too fast. three fourths of the level is tutorial and then you finally get to go and fly it on a mission and it ends up being only like five minutes?! That was really the only thing i didnt like with your level. Other than that i think you and your level fully deserved the four stars and heart i gave it.

SalieriAAX

03-11-2010, 07:22 AM

Thanks guys, I generally agree with what you're both saying - that the mission at the end was a bit short and simple. The reason that it is like it is is down to three factors:

Planning: I didn't plan the level at all, I certainly didn't map it out geographically before I started. As a result, the Rebel cruiser is right up against the right wall, so I didn't have any space to make the flight section any longer as I might have wanted.

Thermo: I was absolutely maxed out on thermo by the end. I would have liked to have put in a timer system for the bombs but there just wasn't enough memory for them, adding any new features would have meant having to remove stuff that I already had.

Practicality: I'm really not sure what I would have done anyway short of just making the gap between the two ships wider. I couldn't have added any kinds of weapon to the TIE because it was already at maximum capturable size, and adding convincing enemy starfighters would have been a massive undertaking. I do have some ideas for flying challenges for a future level, in which I can just put a note to play the tutorial level first and then assume the player knows what they're doing, but I'm working on a completely original project first - on which I am finally making some proper progress. After this level, though, I suffer from constant Thermo anxiety as soon as I reach the 1/4 mark.

himoks

03-11-2010, 10:22 AM

your level is great! like your all levels. 5 stars and heart

rOckalOvEer x73

03-12-2010, 07:57 AM

Hello Salieri!:p
I dont know if you have previous experience from PS3, but your levels are really AMAZING.
You have a lot of creativity and your ideas are really fresh.
Since LBP for PSP was released, i´ve been waiting for a good star wars based levels, and you and Taffey gave me a good surprise :p.
I like your level design, and of course your humor! (Don´t look at me, dont look at me!!! that image will stay forever in my mind, or at least until you publish a new level :p).
Your spaceships are very ingenious, I really liked that balance element.
Star wars characters are well represented in your level, so congrats Salieri, you´ve done it again.
:star::star::star::star::star: and heart, a´ve already hearted you as a creator ;)

SalieriAAX

03-12-2010, 09:54 AM

Thanks both,

My only PS3 experience is of Dragon Age: Origins, which is great, but it didn't advance my creating skills much.

I'm very glad you think I have a lot of creativity and fresh ideas. I actually feel a bit unoriginal since my only proper, full level is based on Star Wars rather than anything from my own imagination, so I'm trying hard to come up with something totally original for my next project.

Thanks again!

S

SeekingTruth86

04-18-2010, 09:33 AM

I absolutely loved this level, salieri! Your corner editing and sticker work was phenomenal, and I love how you pulled off the TIE fighters. The fact that they might be a bit hard to control made sense to me- I mean, it's a TIE fighter- canonically they're fragile- and since there wasn't more you could do with some sort of obstacle course, the challenge of learning how to fly it added a nice touch of satisfaction once you master it. (And from a technical standpoint... it's a completely unique vehicle that you've made, something I've never seen the likes of before, and you pulled it off, then built this beautiful and awesome level around it! It's downright brilliant!)

I honestly loved every moment of playing this level... one day I passed my PSP to some friends so they could give it a try, and they were completely delighted by the experience. This was an instant :star::star::star::star::star: and heart for me, I've had you creator hearted for a long time now :)

X-FROGBOY-X

04-18-2010, 09:11 PM

This looks good, I'll play this in the near future.

ghik16

04-22-2010, 08:47 PM

- It's amazing how you can create plays and visuals with the PSP tools.(I still miss a photo tool) Darth Vader looked amazing.
- The Tie Rider's were hard to control in the start, but after some time I figured out the controls.
- You had some nice humour in there too. I'm talking about the part, where you meet R2D2 and C3PO. Great!
- It was a good idea to fight on the dark side, instead of allways being on the Jedi's side. It makes the level a bit different from the other levels with Star Wars. Great that you had made Darth Vader quite funny.

An amazing experience throughout the level. I want a sequel!

If you would try either Find the Four Eggs or The Gardens PSP of mine, I would be happy. You may play them both aswell. :) And then post feedback on them in their thread. You can find them in my creations, or just in the level Showcase.

X-FROGBOY-X

04-26-2010, 12:13 AM

I played this earlier, it was really cool. There were plenty of cool humorous parts, such as when Darth Vader had his mask off, I laughed out loud. The gameplay and visuals were very stunning too, the flying machine was awesome, it was a really brilliant idea. The opening doors were very detailed, and had a nice sci-fi type of look to them. It was a very cool idea to have it to where you were on the dark side instead of the usual good side. Keep up the good work. :)

:star::star::star::star::star: and a heart.

xero

04-26-2010, 01:26 AM

Thanks to you, I'm back, and ready to review more LBP PSP levels! After seeing this post, I just had to try this level out. Review time!

Story

+ Excellent comedy. The bit about the emperor's lack of face made me chuckle
+ Good structure, story flows nicely in the form of a flight tutorial
+ Story being told from the "bad" side (Imperials) is a nice change
? R2D2 needs to watch his language!

Gameplay

+ Very well designed, everything is aesthetically pleasing
+ Amazing sticker work helps create authentic visuals
+ The TIE Fighter is well designed and doesn't take long to get the hang of
? It would've been cool to be able to shoot, possibly have a simple dogfight by shooting at Rebel spacecraft
- TIE Fighter can be fairly easy to destabilize, and is almost impossible to correct in flight
- The level is rather short, and is limited to flying the TIE Fighter, and not much else

Final Thoughts
It was a good addition to the LBP Community. There are no real issues with your level, and everything in it is well designed and detailed. After being killed several times by friendly fire, Rebel fire, and my ship destabilizing once (and almost correcting it... had the border of the level been a little further I would've made it), I finally docked onto the ship and showed those Rebel's who's boss.

Final Score: :star::star::star::star::star:

Taffey

04-26-2010, 01:43 AM

I love your review style xero. I tend to babble on and on, but you are very organized and to the point. Good stuff. :)

klr1996

03-08-2011, 12:31 AM

i absolutly loved the level ive never seen star wars before but after seeing this lvl i saw it but truthfully your lvl was way better i give 5 stars everytime i play it wich is alot my little brother who has never played psp before got the hang of it in seconds and if you have a give away version of the tie i would love to know about it